Objective: This study aimed to clarify the reasons women diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) undergo a medical check-up one year post-childbirth.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women diagnosed with GDM when they came to the hospital or outpatient clinic to undergo a medical check-up one year post-childbirth. The collected data were analyzed qualitatively.

Results: Thirteen women participated in the study. The results were aggregated into 18 categories with six primary categories. The six primary reasons reported by participants for receiving medical check-ups were: (1) I want to avoid becoming diabetic; (2) I understand that medical check-ups should continue after childbirth; (3) A medical check-up is an opportunity to review overall health and lifestyle; (4) I want to be reassured by advice from a doctor; (5) Others recommended that I have a medical check-up; and (6) There are social conditions for available medical check-ups even while raising children.

Discussion: Women diagnosed with GDM continued to undergo medical check-ups after childbirth to protect their own health for reasons that included explanations from medical staff, concern for their children, social availability of medical care during the child-raising years, and recommendations from others. These reasons were effective in ensuring continuous medical check-ups.

Objective: This survey aimed to clarify public health nurses’ (PHNs’) recognition and practice in program evaluation by comparing participation in training and career groups.

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted with 432 PHNs in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. The questionnaire included items that evaluated the recognized value of and practice resulting from programs. Recognition and practice differences between career and training groups were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test.

Results: Valid responses obtained from 200 participants were analyzed. Overall, 61.5% of PHNs participated in training in community diagnosis, 44.5% in policymaking, and 53.0% in program evaluation. Participants’ recognition of evaluating programs was generally high. Among novice PHNs, multiple items were reported to be significantly more frequent in practice by those who underwent training than by those who did not participate in training in community diagnosis. Among middle-level PHNs, multiple items were reported to be significantly more frequent in practice by those who underwent training than by those who had not participated in training in community diagnosis and policymaking. Among management-level PHNs, multiple items were reported to be significantly more frequent in practice by those who underwent training than by those who had not participated in training in policymaking and program evaluation.

Discussion: Significantly frequent participation in training in community diagnosis was reported in all career groups; the training was useful in increasing the frequency of practice in program evaluation. In terms of training for each career group, suggestions include focusing on policymaking at the middle level and program evaluation at the management level to increase the frequency of practice in program evaluation.

Purpose: This study aimed to understand the support provided by public health nurses (PHNs) to community health promotion workers.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted of 13 PHNs with experience in supporting community health promotion workers. The interview data were analyzed qualitatively and inductively.

Results: The support provided by the PHNs included “support in understanding the policies and details of the activities of community health promotion workers” “support of the work by improving workers motivation to perform health promotion activities” “support of community health promotion work performed independently” and “support to create an environment for the work of community health promotion workers”.

Discussion: After residents are appointed as community health promotion workers, PHNs help them engage in and perform their activities by ensuring that they understand the work expected of community health promotion workers. They also provide active support to help workers independently perform their activities within the organization. The findings confirm the support provided by PHNs to community health workers and the importance of such support in ensuring smooth performance of their activities.

Objective: We aimed to clarify the details of support provided by welfare commissioners to older men living alone.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured interviews of 10 welfare commissioners in City A and analyzed the responses by employing a qualitative descriptive approach.

Results: The details of support included the following: “reaching out in a way that reduces wariness and rejection,” “providing support to detect and avoid risks to lifestyle and health,” “preventing isolation by connecting them to their family and the community,” “being a dependable lifeline that can respond in emergencies,” “watching out for them in the community,” “regularly helping them maintain and continue a healthy lifestyle in their daily life,” and “coordinating with the Regional Comprehensive Support Center to connect them with services in a timely manner.”

Discussion: Welfare commissioners provided support to older men living alone by connecting them with their family, watching out for them in the community, and other means. The findings of this research can be valuable data for welfare commissioners and welfare organizations in providing support and cooperation for older men living alone, who are difficult to support.